Spider Bite

Dorsal surface: variegated white, orange, brown, and black markings. Scale: each blue mark on measuring tape equals 5 mm. Specimen collected in Orange County, CA, April 2007.

Ventral surface: dark brown with yellow and orange-red markings.

Latrodectus geometricus, the brown widow spider, crawling on a concrete wall. Another specimen collected in Orange County, CA, October 2008.

Comparative view of an indigenous black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus; left), the spider depicted in Figure 3 (middle), and the index spider (right; colors faded from preservation in rubbing alcohol). Because of its relatively small size, the black widow specimen is probably immature, yet still has the normal adult markings. Used with permission of Jeffrey R. Suchard, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Orange, CA.